Tuesday, April 27, 2010

ABC radioland in Canberra - a divergent commentary but a human rights issue none the less!

I have sent the following feedback to ABC 666 Canberra Radio this morning. Of course, it is an exercise in futility as it seems their current stable of presenters are seen as the best thing since sliced white bread. No wonder I don't like sliced white bread.

I was struck by how enjoyable local Canberra ABC radio was when the current incumbents took a much 'deserved' holiday during the kiddies break:

"I must comment on the discernible improvement I noticed on Breakfast and Mornings during the school holiday break. Your usual presenter, Solly & his 'boofhead' style talk back must have sent listeners scurrying to RN in droves in recent times. His peculiarly West Australian approach to public broadcasting is not endearing to listeners with a reasonable IQ & a grasp of current affairs.

The Sloane style of cloying giggling, particularly when she comes across a line of thought she doesn't particularly agree with is an unfortunate radio tic. I appreciate her regular guests are all people she is 'comfortable' with, so we tend to get good ole Harold's take on making money in media, the daily Murdoch spin on politics or non-political takes on feral animals, local history and whatever. Whenever the subject is current political issues the take on it is invariably 'rural conservative' in slant, which is a very limited world view (giggle, giggle). More RN....By the way, Alex, 'going forward' is gen x corporate speak, not something invented by the PM. However, I do agree it is the most redundant phrase in modern blah blah...

Afternoons is taken up with pure country 'fare' with mind-numbing discussions on everything under the sun that might have occupied my mum's CWA club, if they were all suddenly given a new lease as gen X'ers and aging Y's May be there is a discernible demographic, but I suggest baby boomer and younger listeners might appreciate something a little more challenging on the cerebral front. The quaint panels that pop up on this show, trying to be oh so clever on somewhat inane subjects are pretty tedious. Sadly, RN tends to wander off into book readings and what not during this slot so local ABC is all that is left.

You can see that I am a radio addict, and I enjoy pithy and astute commentary, lively interviews and objective current affairs analysis. I don't enjoy commercial radio style projections of the personal predilections of radio presenters who try to shape their broadcasts around their narrow take on reality - like the Solly's and Sloane's of 'radioland'. Don't we have enough of this sort of obtuse editorializing on commercial talk back?"

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